Did Covid come from a lab or a market? Who cares?
Recently Christopher Wray, director of the FBI, said that the Bureau thinks the most likely origin of Covid-19 is a lab in China. Here’s my response. The origin of Covid-19 does not matter. It does not matter if it originated from a wet market. It does not matter if it originated in a lab. The way to treat the disease, fight its spread, and develop vaccines for it are the same whether it was from a lab, from zoonotic spillover, or deliberately spread by aliens. Where Covid came from matters a lot to a small cadre of virology experts at universities and national health services, but to the rest of us it couldn’t matter less. Bringing up where the virus originated will always carry a hint of blame, and if the virus did indeed escape from a lab that might be warranted. But given that the virus came from China we shouldn’t take American accusations of lab leaks or unsanitary food markets at face value. American and Chinese policy makers are on bad terms and that colours the FBI’s statements.
I’ve made the case before that there isn’t a Sino-American cold war, but accusatory statements about the origin of the pandemic risks escalating the conflict between two great powers and making risks getting us closer to a real cold war. It’s irresponsible for American officials to use their platform to spread the idea that the pandemic not only originated in China, but that it originated because of China. And perception is sometimes reality; if enough people with power in Beijing and Washington believe there is a cold war then there will be one. Instead of seeing the pandemic as a shared experiences where people from all corners of the world unite to defeat the virus, Wray focuses on why and where the virus came from. Obviously, there is value in knowing where a virus originated for the purpose of preventing future outbreaks, but that work should be done by people with medical backgrounds, not by intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
If you liked this post you can read my last post about the war in Ukraine here, or the rest of my writings here. It'd mean a lot to me if you recommended the blog to a friend or coworker. Come back next Monday for a new post!
I've always been interested in politics, economics, and the interplay between. The blog is a place for me to explore different ideas and concepts relating to economics or politics, be that national or international. The goal for the blog is to make you think; to provide new perspectives.
Written by Karl Johansson
Sources:
Comments